Famous Gardeners

Gardenening like any other hobby has its own Hall of Fame of famous gardeners. It is filled with a variety of stoic gardeners, plantsmen and women, geniuses, aristocrats, workers and dreamers. Famous gardeners' achievements have been equally varied, some have travelled the world enduring unimaginable hardship collecting plants, other famous gardeners have created gardens that draw visitors by the million, and a few have been inspired to create a new style of gardening that has changed the way we view gardening for ever.

Famous Gardeners: Plant Hunters
The plant hunters of the past were not all famous gardeners themselves; some worked tirelessly for patrons or horticultural societies to earn a living and only became known as famous gardeners centuries later. It is to these plant hunters that we owe our basic garden flowers. The first to appear in our Famous Gardeners Hall of Fame were theose adventurous spirits of the Renaissance -
 

                                  

  

The 19th Century famous gardeners and plantsmen and women were treated to new wonders from China (Robert Fortune),
South America (von Humboldt) and Australia (Cunningham and Drummond).
 

                                          

The search for new plants goes on, E.H. Wilson and George Forest brought back plants from the Far East at the beginning of the 20th Century and even today expeditions travel to the remoter parts of the globe in search of new species tof plants, shrubs and trees to enthrall modern famous gardeners.

Famous gardeners often worked tirelessly for little reward but they are now remembered in the Latin plant names that are used throughout the world to identify their specimens.